when they were mistaking a movie about howard hughes, they wanted to match the color of the drapes and also help out reporters. >> the day of the state of the union we called it a ready day because we were on the phone so much calling with questions to try to put something into historical context. >> the office opened back in 1975. >> the legislature was asking the president to make his public. >> he joined the staff a year later and became senate historian in 2009. >> i'm in an institution where henry clay and daniel webster, their desks are still there. >> chris: 45 senators are serving their first terms in a period of dramatic turnover he is gratified to be part of the body's ins tools institutional

memory. >> my main objective is for people to have accurate information to base their decisions on. anything i can provide them, i get great satisfaction out of. >> chris: i asked ritchie what are the biggest changes in the senate. he said jet travel to make it easier to commute the televising of senate and lots more security. that is it for today. have a great week. we'll see you next fox news sunday. >> this week on the journal editorial report. the president lays out an activist agenda for his second term. does he really think it's going to pass or the opening

bell in the 2014 congressional campaign. must, treasury secretary jack lew faces questions about his time at citigroup and a caymans island bank account. and pope benedict, what the catholics will be looking for in their next spiritual leader. , the leaamerican people don't expect government to solve every problem. they don't expect everybody in this chamber to agree on every issue. but they expect us to put the nation's interest before party. >> paul: welcome to the journal editorial report. i'm paul gigot. that was president obama during his state of the union address, he called for a vast expansion, laying out a second term agenda that includes more

spending on public works, a cap and trade program for carbon emissions, a minimum wage increase and a federal nursery school entitlement. so does the president think he can get any of this passed or is he counting on a pelosi congress in 2014? let's ask wall street journal columnest and deputy editor dan henninger, james freeman and washington columnist kim strassel. kim, how much does the president think he can pass or is that what this is about? >> no, he knows he can't pass his agenda, very little of this would make it through the republican house. that's in fact exactly the point. the goal here, which is a repeat of what he's done for the last two years, is to put out all of these measures which are somewhat pole driven and sound generally good to the public and he pitches them as helping the economy, and then when the republicans don't pass them or take them up, he will call them obstructionist, he hopes that they'll have a few fights over

a couple of them like the minimum wage that will make them look ununited and ineffectual and then he'll use that to try to show that they cannot lead and take back the house in 2014. >> and james, what struck me was how unapologetic the endorsement of activist government was, this was eons from the bill clinton presidency. this is an unapologetic look, look, government will do the following things for you, suggests to me that he thinks he has the liberal majority in the country? >> yeah, and not having to fun again for reelection, having just won, the pretense is falling apart from cares a lot about debt and deficit reduction, a lot of new programs, a lot of of new spending and i think as we said, 2014, we find out if the congress is going to be able to stop those programs in the last two years of his term. >> i think there's more going on here as well, paul than just the president sort of

figuring out how to fight in the political trenches. he records himself as a historic figure and referred to him. >> paul: the he reverse reagan. >> the reverse reagan. he's referred to himself in the same league as lbj and fdr and lincoln or mahatma gandhi, he's looking toward the future and didn't see that he has the liberal majority. >> paul: if it doesn't pass how does he go down in history. none of it passes it's all blocked, how does he go down as a historic figure or is that already baked in the first term's achievement, obamacare. >> the first terms achievement and the idea he committed himself to the goals he regards as good. carbon-free world and history in the future will look back on him and see if they didn't achieve these things it, his aspirations made him a great man. which the problem with that, paul, it disconnects him from the system. in other words-- >> from congress.

>> from congress, he's not negotiating with congress. as soon as he did the speech he went down to north carolina and was talking-- >> people hate congress, maybe he's he thinking, okay, ill he' batter them and beat them over the head and if i don't get what i want maybe they will he' break in the next two years, if they don't, so what a congress led by nancy pelosi in 2014 and people at the door. >> there would be no question and i think he's just appealing to the public will and using that campaign organization that he had. they're still in place, that he e-mailed the people. it's a very usual president. >> kim, the thing most striking to me was the return of cap and trade, which democratic, a democrat senate couldn't pass in 2010, remember that? and another tax increase on natural gas and oil drilling or production which he wants to use to fund some of his renewable energy priorities. why? what's his thinking there, if it couldn't pass two years

ago. >> two things are going on on the cap and trade programs, he knows it can't pass congress, it's not going to pass congress, and this is his excuse that he's putting out there to do what is now becoming much more common in the obama administration and executive power. what he said was a challenge, either pass this bill or i'm going to do this unilaterally through regulatory action. he knows that's what he's going to do anyway, this is his excuse. on the tax part, oil and gas, a new way for him to continue funding his green energy projects. we've got a big natural gas and oil boom and i think the administration made the decision rather than necessarily fight that, because it's a big job creator, you try to siphon some of the money off it and use it for your own ambitions like war, solyndra, more wind and solar powers. >> paul: and this could be a play for the second term, minimum wage, republicans are saying $9 from 7.25, they like

it, because people say they want everybody to make more money and the damage from it in terms of jobs that are never created for the low skilled, you can't see, it's not tangible. >> economists even on the left see it. maybe that's why it's the most depauling, despicable of the proposals. even liberal economists know that when you raise the minimum wage you get less employment. people will lose their jobs, that's not really debated and of course, if $9 is great. why not raise it to 20 or $50. >> paul: now what the black teenage unemployment rate over 30%. >> it's going to hit them very hard. this is relevant, politically obviously, but the claim is that this is going to speak to our moral values. but the moral values to let people work. >> paul: kim, the other thing that may be at play here are the red state democrats, how-- who are going to run for reelection in 2014, for the

house and senate. they may not have that same liberal majority in their districts. how are they going to be cross-pressured by this agenda? >> well, this is what republicans need to do because as dan said, obama's been disconnecting himself from this congress and republicans let him do it. they' they have allowed themselves to be painted as the only force in town and the president runs to the white house and senate. ifs' going to put the agenda forward make the senate go first on this and we'll see how many of the president's own members of his own party agree with some of these proposals. >> okay, kim, thank you. when we come back, jack lew's cayman island investment. president obama once called it a notorious tax scam and mitt romney paid a political price for his accounts there. for his accounts there. but will jack lew? [ woman ] ring. ring. progresso. your soups are so awesomely delicious my husband and i can't stop eating 'em! what's...that... on your head? can curlers! tomato basil, potato with bacon... we've got a lot of empty cans.

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>> jack lew, president

obama's pick for treasury secretary faced questions on capitol hill this week about his tenure as a top executive at citigroup, the too big to fail bank that received a 45 million dollar taxpayer bailout. members of the finance committee pressed the former white house chief of staff about an almost 1 million dollar bonus he took home from citi in early 2005. as well as his investment in a venture capital fund registered in the cayman islands. >> why is the investment in the cayman islands? >> senator, i actually don't know why it was organized. i was not involved in setting up the fund. >> did you pay taxes on that investment? >> i reported all income related to the investment on my tax forms, i made all of my taxes. >> explain why it would be morally acceptable to take close to a million dollars out of a company that was functionally insolvent and about to receive a billion dollars of taxpayers' support. >> senator, in 2008 i was an

employee in the private sector, compensated in a manner consistent with other people who did the kind of work that i did in the industry. >> paul: we're back with dan henninger and james freeman and wall street editorial board member. what did we learn about his tenure at citi? >> almost nothing. it's amazing, he didn't have an opinion 0 that, chief operating officer and running before and during the crisis, overseeing a lot of important stuff. the financing of the divisions, the legal, et cetera. but i think it's basically, from what we saw, he didn't really know or care about much of anything that's going on there, and i think-- >> was this the confirmation strategy, the sergeant schultz, i know nothing. he knows he's going to be confirmed. but in all of the employees at citi had as little interest in their jobs as he apparently

did, that bank could run into real trouble. >> paul: and it did. >> there was a particularly troubling back and forth and when he was asked about big banks and-- >> an implicit government guarantee often can borrow more cheaply than smaller banks. >> he looked rather confused. >> as appalling, the piece with chuck hagel, they are big. >> nominee for defense secretary. >> the nominee. the big problem is that the president of the united states has chosen to nominate two such people into arguably the two most important positions in the country. >> should we care about the cayman islands investment put together for him by citigroup and part of his compensation. he said to the congress this week, look if the congress want today ban this sort of thing, it could have and everything i did was perfectly legal. so are we just being unfair to the guy? >> no, i don't really care so much about the cayman issue,

if we cared we'd simplify the u.s. tax structure and encourage them to bring the money back to the united states. >> i think the morally questionable decision, the time at citigroup, taking that bonus, by the way, over a pretty hefty base pay salary, too, at a time when the bank was being bailed out. >> the caymans. >> let's talk about it, president obama is president today in part because he destroyed mitt romney's character largely with this attack on him as a financier who had investments in the caymans and-- >> shady. >> which part of the 1%, shady guy, suggesting that he was a tax evader or avoider, if not evader. >> and max baucus, the finance committee chairman. >> and he spent a career basically attacking the cayman islands and tax havens and now for the president and m baucus to give mr. lew a pass, i suppose you could say now it's great news for the caymans off the hook politically. i think it ought to bother

people that the standard has mr. obama said, gets pushed aside. >> in the phoniness of the kaymans issue and the phony outrage. what else have we learned about the-- what jack lew knows or thinks about taxes, finance, other things? >> well, a yes man, he believes in ethe president's policy eliminating deductions and raise taxes keep government spending. he doesn't support a skwes star, glass-steagall, this is the president's agenda. >> paul: why would we eanything don't we expect that of the nominee. >> we expect that of this president which is to say usually treasury secretaries represent the american economy. this treasury secretary is going to represent the public

sector, not the entire private economy and when he goes up there on capitol hill as mary suggests, he's going to be defending barack obama's public sector agenda. if that's what his expertise is. >> i guess that's kind of what we expect. but i guess the larger question for me would be, does he know enough about the financial industry? does he know enough about the international economy that if we get into trouble, he be the kind of troubleshooter or leader that-- >> no, he does not. he did not show nothing of that knowledge. >> and going to forge the next agreement. >> the currency change after world war ii. >> it might be unprecedented. and prior to tim geithner, what you had a usually, the people who had great success in business, or real intellectual standing. he was sort of a government plumber in the financial machinery. now, we move from him to jack lew who doesn't have that expertise.

and it's really, it's hard to find a treasury secretary in our history that knows so little. >> and let's hope he has the speed dial of people like paul volcker and others, and he's going to get them-- and the catholic church after pope benedict, the ailing pontiff shocked the world with pontiff shocked the world with news of his i gave birth to my daughter on may 18th, five days later, i had a massive heart attack. bayer aspirin was the first thing the emts gave me. now, i'm on a bayer aspirin regimen. [ male announcer ] be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. [ woman ] learn from my story. if we took the nissan altima and reimagined nearly everything in it?

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>> pope benedict xvi celebrated his final public mass in st. peters basilica on ash wednesday two days after his shock announcement that he would leave office on february 28th. the 85-year-old pontiff said he no longer had the strength to carry out his papal duties, becoming the first pope since

the middle ages to resign. so, dan, what's benedict's most important legacy? >> i think that benedict's most important legacy was the one that he was working on as cardin cardinal ratzinger, took the vatican to the greatest event in the last hundred years was properly understand. >> paul: the second vatican council. >> the second vatican council, he was creating a roll your own catholocism and ratzinger want today clarify it's rooted in the traditions of the catholic church. >> paul: engage in the modern world in the catholics terms. >> after all, this is the pope on twitter the first time. it wasn't all about that, but it's about the future. he did a lot of outreach to china's catholics and traveled a lot for a pope of his age and started to tackle some of

the more difficult scandals of the church such as the child abuse cases. >> paul: what should the church to be looking for when you look at the cardinals and the the next pope, mary? >> i hope they look for a pope that can reinvague rate the church where it's ailing, namely europe and the united states and if you look at the top ten catholic countries in the the world. brazil, the philippines, poland and eastern europe and kongo, whereas the united states our catholic population is about a quarter of the united states would be in decline if it weren't for immigrants. >> paul: in europe, the churches are essentially museums. they're empty except for the american tourists. so what-- do they need a pope, does the catholic church need a pope what might be done for catholicism in the west where it's declining or maybe get a pope who can address where it's active and growing, and

play to that strength? >> i think the cardinals have a tough choice, paul, if they have the idea they need a pope who has to protect the christians in middle east and china they want a highly political leader, a politician as pope. if they want a pope who can invigorate the church in europe, the west and africa where it's growing, they want a strong spiritual leader. he that's a difficult combination to put together. >> paul: you made a point this week and on our tv show and in our discussions that they need somebody who can also administer a vatican bureaucracy which always doesn't often implement the pope at the top level wants to accomplish, it's hide bound and insular, it can't engage with the broader world. >> i think he they probably need a pope with political skills who can drive bureaucracy. >> so that would suggest somebody who's younger and more vigorous, can do more than one thing.

>> i think they need to look for somebody younger and you talk about the scandals and the problems with the bureaucracy, and there's a litany of them from the child abuse cases to leagues, and to the bank, the vatican bank which had a lot of trouble. personally i'd love to see cardinal timothy dolan from new york although i don't think he has much of a shot. >> paul: born in the wrong country. they don't want a super power cardinal would be pope. >> that would be fun. >> that would be fun. >> the persecution of those [ fishing rod casting line, marching band playing ] [ male announcer ] the rhythm of life. [ whistle blowing ] where do you hear that beat? campbell's healthy request soup lets you hear it... in your heart. [ basketball bouncing ] heart healthy. great taste. mmm... [ male announcer ] sounds good. it's amazing what soup can do. and it gave me my custom number. my arches needed more support until i got my number

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>> time now for hits and misses of the week. and kim, first to you. >> a miss to the sierra club this week for the first time in its 120 year history officially engaged in an act